USS Jimmy Carter (SSN 23)

USS JIMMY CARTER is the third and final SEAWOLF - class nuclear-powered attack submarine and the first ship in the Navy to honor the 39th president of the United States and the only U.S. president to qualify in submarines.

As the most advanced submarine in the SEAWOLF - class, the JIMMY CARTER has built-in flexibility and an array of new warfighting features that enable her to prevail in any scenario and against any threat – from beneath Artic ice to shallow water. Differentiating the JIMMY CARTER from all previous undersea vessels is its Multi-Mission Platform (MMP), which includes a 100-foot hull extension to enhance payload capability. The MMP enables JIMMY CARTER to accommodate the advanced technology required to develop and test new generation of weapons, sensors and undersea vehicles for naval special warfare, tactical surveillance and mine-warfare operations.

Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.), thirty-ninth president of the United States, was born October 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia, and grew up in the nearby community of Archery. His father, James Earl Carter, Sr., was a farmer and businessman; his mother, Lillian Gordy, a registered nurse.

He was educated in the Plains public schools, attended Georgia Southwestern College and the Georgia Institute of Technology, and received a B.S. degree from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1946. In the Navy he became a submariner, rising to the rank of lieutenant. Chosen for the nuclear submarine program, he was assigned to Schenectady, N.Y., where he took graduate work at Union College in reactor technology and nuclear physics, and served as senior officer of the pre-commissioning crew of the SEAWOLF.

On July 7, 1946, he married Rosalynn Smith. When his father died in 1953, he resigned from the Navy and returned to Plains. He and Rosalynn operated Carter's Warehouse, a general-purpose seed and farm supply company. He quickly became a leader of the community. In 1962 he won election to the Georgia Senate. He lost his first gubernatorial campaign in 1966, but won the next election, becoming Georgia's 76th governor on January 12, 1971.

On December 12, 1974, he announced his candidacy for president of the United States. He won his party's nomination on the first ballot at the 1976 Democratic National Convention, and was elected president on November 2, 1976.

Jimmy Carter served as president from January 20, 1977 to January 20, 1981. Noteworthy foreign policy accomplishments of his administration included the Panama Canal treaties, the Camp David Accords, the treaty of peace between Egypt and Israel, the SALT II treaty with the Soviet Union, and the establishment of U.S. diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. He championed human rights throughout the world. On the domestic side, the administration's achievements included a comprehensive energy program conducted by a new Department of Energy; deregulation in energy, transportation, communications, and finance; major educational programs under a new Department of Education; and major environmental protection legislation, including the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.

In 1982, he became University Distinguished Professor at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and founded The Carter Center. Actively guided by President Carter, the nonpartisan and nonprofit Center addresses national and international issues of public policy. Carter Center fellows, associates, and staff join with President Carter in efforts to resolve conflict, promote democracy, protect human rights, and prevent disease and other afflictions. Through the Global 2000 program, the Center advances health and agriculture in the developing world.

The permanent facilities of The Carter Presidential Center were dedicated in October 1986, and include the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum, administered by the National Archives. Also open to visitors is the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site in Plains. President Carter and Rosalynn volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. They have four children and ten grandchildren.